Make your
business work
for you!
In The Graduate Level of Business Ownership, authors Ronen Shefer and Terry Shepherd give business owners the tools they need to align their business goals and personal objectives on a path of success.
This book will help you reimagine the life of your dreams—and teach you how to make those dreams a reality. You must reconsider the role your business plays in your overall life aspirations. The Graduate Level of Business Ownership illustrates how closely intertwined an owner’s business and personal plans can—and should—be.
Inspiring owners to reach their goals
We wrote this book hoping to inspire business owners to align their business aspirations with their personal lives.
In other words, we want to motivate owners to view their journey through life not only from the point of view of the business and its successes or failures, but to also focus on defining life objectives so they can ultimately use the business as the catalyst to help them achieve those objectives.
About the authors
After several decades advising owner managed companies, Ronen and Terence share their knowledge and insight of what defines a successful business, and how every business owner can achieve it.
RonEn Shefer
Ronen Shefer is a founding partner of ROCG and has served as the managing partner since its inception. For almost three decades, Ronen has Specialized in guiding business owners through their unique challenges of owning their businesses and towards the graduate level of business ownership. Ronen believes strongly that each client is unique and therefore guidance or solutions should be tailor-made to their circumstances and that advisors should help to ensure the successful implementation.
Terence J. Shepherd
Terence “Terry” Shepherd is a founding partner of ROCG. He has advised small/medium-sized family owned and closely held businesses for over forty years. Terry is especially skilled in understanding the emotional right-brain attributes involved with family businesses, business owners transitioning through each growth cycle, strategic and value growth planning, and an owner’s eventual exit.
Unlock more
Take the next step and put everything you have learned into practice with our Self Assessment Workbook.
Designed to support you in taking action whilst on the journey of reading our book.
Get your free download valued at $79.99
Operating at the Graduate Level
Set personal goals & objectives
Clearly define your life’s goals and aspirations and discuss them with your loved ones.
Eliminate Dependencies
Get the business to operate independently of your day-to-day involvement.
Understand the financial gap
Know how much you would need in order to fulfil your life’s objectives if given the chance.
Monetize your business
Meet your goals and objectives by timely monetizing the business through an exit or transition.
Assess your current state
Before setting a destination, is it important to know your starting point and how far you have to go.
Plan for contingencies
Plan what will happen if you are no longer here.
Align the business towards your goals
Use the business to achieve the values you identify as most important.
Seek the right advisors
Work with professionals who are aligned with these ideas.
What our customers say
Anyone thinking of starting, running, or selling their own business should read this book. For each phase of a business life cycle, The Graduate Level of Business Ownership lays out the structural steps that are necessary for success and addresses the emotions that come with the journey.
– Dennis A. (a.k.a. Daniel)
Owner, TechnoWorks, Inc.
If you want to be in the driver’s seat of your business this book is a must-read. It will help you identify, plan, and execute your chosen path to success regardless of your business stage.
– John Rainey
Director (retired), Clark University Small Business Development Center
Without your knowledge and advice, we would never have achieved the exceptional outcome that we realized. I truly believe in the process and outcomes that you have shared in your book, and I know that anyone that reads and employs the advice delineated in this book will be greatly rewarded.
– Craig Bovaird
Former owner and CEO, Reliance Engineering;
Built-Rite Tool & Die Inc.
Readers’ Reviews
Jesse Presgraves31 January 2023Extremely helpful book from experienced authors The Graduate Level of Business Ownership is a non-fiction book that is aimed at helping business owners move to the next step in making their goals happen. It's less than 200 pages so it's a quick read.These two authors have a lot of experience between them and it definitely shows in this book. These strategies that they give are also more helpful than some other books. They aren't just common sense sayings or easy to say things like "just work harder". These ideas are backed up by their own experience and research. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to start their own business or looking to go a little further.
Santiago Flores26 January 2023A great tool The Graduate Level of Business Ownership by author Shepherd and Shefer is the book you need to read if you want your business to succeed. Undoubtedly, I found the information in the book precise and interesting. The book is simple and not very long, something I always like from this type of book. The authors share their experience and I think we can trust this information because of this exactly.I would recommend reading this book and I also think that reading it for a second time would give me some different insights. I liked the book and for this reason I give it 4 stars.
ostrich21 January 2023An enjoyable and rewarding journey “The Graduate Level of Business Ownership” by Terence Shepherd and Ronen Shefer teaches us that the path of owning a business and all that goes with it should be an enjoyable and rewarding journey. It is very important, as the authors point out, that one feels fulfilled through one’s business and does not look back wishing one had spent one’s life doing something else. Business happiness and happiness in life should go hand in hand. The book culminates in a chapter that describes how ultimately, the most important thing after successfully having a business on the graduate level, is the pursuit of personal joy and living one’s dreams. I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking to make their business or life a greater success.Conscientious20 January 2023Brilliant! A brilliant guide, The Graduate Level of Business Ownership containing essential tools to pursue and achieve business goals by two talented authors Terence Shepherd and Ronen Shefer is a complete one. This is specifically compiled for people who are business owners that need a fresh take on strategy and planning. The authors’ guidance comes from years of expertise that is derived from understanding and excelling in their respective fields. This book makes it easier to grasp the importance of aligning personal goals with professional objectives. Business owners will understand how easy it becomes to be trapped in a web of doubts and this guide will make it simplified to achieve goals and success. I am glad to have read this to take a new perspective on my objectives. It is a must-have for all business owners.
Susan Bi.20 January 2023A fast-paced book The Graduate Level of Business Ownership by author Shepherd is an inspirational book. It allows owners to develop strategies and become the CEO of their lives and reach plenty of goals just by reading a couple of pages.The book is fast-paced, loaded with useful information and strategies and information on coaching that would certainly apply to any type of reader whether they run a company or not.The main emphasis is put on setting up a goal, developing strategies to fulfill it and finally executing them so as to achieve that ultimate goal. This may sound easy, but it is certainly not.I have enjoyed this book way too much. Loved it!
Celeste S20 January 2023Clever and useful advice You can have a fulfilling life, own a successful business and be happy. All at once. This is the important message the authors transmit in this interesting, thought-provoking and helpful book. The Graduate Level of Business Ownership written by these two experienced businessmen, Ronen Shefer and Terence Shepherd, explains how to achieve this balance between personal life and business. As the owner of a small business, I have heard a million times “you can’t have it all” or “if your business is successful, it is because you dedicate every hour in the day to work and your relationships and family suffer because of that”.Now that doesn’t have to be true. In this book, the authors explain how to design, plan, and create a business while enjoying your life in the process. Excellent work. I recommend it.Margarita garcia19 January 2023Interesting book. The Graduate Level of Business Ownership is an interesting business book where authors Ronen Shefer and Terry Shepherd show us how the owners can have a well-balanced life between the business and life (goals and family). I found this book very intriguing because I am used to reading business books but with more focus on how to grow up and be successful, but this book has something different, and it is the search for that balance that is very necessary. The book is easy to read; the authors explain everything on the basis of real stories, so it is understandable. I have to say that I enjoyed reading this book, I learned different tips.Marina Lujan19 January 2023A very complete guide with tips that are easy to apply The Graduate Level of Business Ownership provides business owners with advice on how to advance to the graduate level of business ownership. With their extensive experience in the field, the authors provide the tools and strategies required to achieve personal goals, align them with business objectives, and thus achieve success.This is a must-read for anyone who is determined to overcome obstacles, such as the fear of failure. This reading also teaches you how to capitalize on our strengths in order to be successful in business.I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it expanded my horizons. It has an intriguing vision of how to use adversity to your advantage. A very complete guide with tips that are easy to apply.H.S18 January 2023Interesting advice! The Graduate Level of Business Ownership is a book that was written by Terence Shephard and Ronen Shefer. Secrets to the success of your business and personal happiness, are two things together that are seemingly very difficult for a successful business person to attain.This book tries to help you in making your dreams become a reality, it’s definitely not an easy task, but these two authors who’ve had experience in this exact objective can offer words of inspiration and guidance.This book is pure, rock-hard concrete advice that you cannot get anywhere else on the market, it’s true words, real-life lessons, and years of expertise combined into one helpful guide.Mia C.18 January 2023Good advice “The Graduate Level of Business Ownership: The Secrets to Business Success and Personal Happiness” by authors Terence Shepherd and Ronen Shefer is a book that aims to help people align business goals and objectives so as to reach success.The book is clear and the reading flows naturally. It is a short book and due to how it was written it can be read quite fast; but I advise everyone reading it to take down notes or highlight the most important points.The advice and step by step are concrete and understandable. I liked the authors’ approach to the topic. I would recommend reading this book to everyone wanting to have success.
